Substack faces criticism for giving Nazis a platform

Substack, the online platform that provides publishing and monetization tools for authors and writers, is facing pushback from a group of users who say it is giving a platform to Nazis and white supremacists.

“From our perspective as Substack publishers, it is unfathomable that someone with a swastika avatar, who writes about ‘The Jewish question’ or who promotes Great Replacement Theory, could be given the tools to succeed on your platform,” the group of Substackers, led by writer Marisa Kabas, said in a letter to its founders. “And yet you’ve been unable to adequately explain your position.”

The letter cited an article in The Atlantic published last month titled “Substack has a Nazi problem.”

In the piece, journalist Jonathan M. Katz wrote Substack has become “a home and propagator of white supremacy and anti-Semitism.”

Substack did not comment on the open letter Friday but in a statement to The Atlantic said it “is a platform that is built on freedom of expression, and helping writers publish what they want to write. Some of that writing is going to be objectionable or offensive. Substack has a content moderation policy that protects against extremes — like incitements to violence — but we do not subjectively censor writers outside of those policies.”

A representative for the company pointed The Hill to a separate open letter this week from writer Elle Griffin, signed by more than 100 of others and titled “Substack shouldn’t decided what we read.”

“There can be no doubt that there is a lot of hateful content on the internet. But Substack has come up with the best solution yet: Giving writers and readers the freedom of speech without surfacing that speech to the masses,” that letter wrote.

That stance is not sitting well with some of the platform’s creators.

“We, your publishers, want to hear from you on the official Substack newsletter,” the first letter concludes. “Is platforming Nazis part of your vision of success? Let us know—from there we can each decide if this is still where we want to be.”

Updated at 3:44 p.m.